Blood That Binds
by That Girl55
Summary: Katie and Kristi have an eighteen year old sister, Kira, who Toby had taken an interest in for more reasons than one. If their mother is too weak to produce a son, then for the first time in nearly five hundred years, Toby will take a daughter. Also a RandyXOC story
1. Chapter 1

**A/N-This takes place in Paranormal Activity 3. Katie and Kristi have an older sister, Kira, who is eighteen and lives with the family. She is often in charge, because both Dennis and Julie work during the day, and Kira works nights. She also has a secret romance with Randy, Dennis' twenty-something assistant, which plays a large part in the story. I made Kristi seven, because it never really says how old she's turning in the birthday video, and I made Katie nine. I hope you all enjoy. xx. **

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Kira positioned herself in the small space of the closet, stifling her giggles. It was Mid-August, meaning the girls hadn't started up school yet, and Kira still had to keep an eye on them during the day.

Dennis was in the garage, working on his film as always. Randy had excused himself to use the bathroom, while really meeting up with Kira. She had managed to escape the grasp of the two small girls only for the moment, who seemed to think the coolest thing right now was playing with their older sister.

"Ouch!" she yelped as her hand caught on one of the metal shelf spikes.

"Hey, shh." Randy said, laughing at her. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

He connected their lips once more, his hands cupping her face.

It was stupid, really, that they were both legal adults who resorted to make outs in a broom closet while Julie was at work and Dennis wasn't paying attention. The girls too, had been momentarily sidetracked with lunch sandwiches Kira had cut into Mickey Mouse shapes. Kira knew Julie wouldn't accept this relationship, it was too similar to her and her first husbands. Julie had been only eighteen when she met the twenty-nine year old doctor. He promised to take care of her, and within a month of them dating she became pregnant with Kira. Ben, her first husband, stayed around until her third pregnancy, and then announced that he had actually been seeing his secretary on the side as well. He divorced her, but allowed her to keep the children as long as he didn't have to pay child support, or alimony or any of that. Julie loved her girls, and she agreed. Julie had always been wary of Kira and the other girls dating after that, especially with older men. Randy may have only been in his early twenties, but Julie wouldn't have allowed it.

Kira loved her mother as much as she loved Randy; she wanted both of them in her lives. So Randy agreed to be a secret, for now at least.

"Kira!" Katie called her name. "We're done with lunch. Where are you, anyway?"

Kira sighed, squirming around and trying to find the doorknob.

"Hurry up, I want to go play with Toby!" Kristi's little voice echoed throughout the home.

"Toby?" Randy asked, opening the door easily. He could see Kira scowl at him in the dim light, realizing he had been hiding it the whole time.

"Kristi's new imaginary friend. It's normal, right? Most seven year olds have them."

"Sure," he nodded. Kira laughed at herself, what did Randy know about kids? The only children he had ever really been around were Katie and Kristi.

"Randy!" The girls said, catching sight of him walking around the corner with Kira. They ran over and hugged him.

Kira smiled at the three of them, and went to go clean up their plates from lunch.

"Were your sandwiches alright?" She asked them.

They probably wouldn't hear her, not with the way they were both talking a mile a minute to Randy. Despite being at their house almost every day, it was a rare occurrence that he got to come inside and see the girls. They loved it when he did, however. Randy was like the cool older brother they never had, always telling them stories and bringing them stuff to play with.

"They were great!" Kristi said, smiling at Kira.

"Ooh, what did you guys have?" Randy asked. The husky voice he tended to use when he and Kira were going at it was gone, replaced with one light and airy, not quite his normal voice, but something he usually reserved just for the two girls still attached to him.

"Peanut butter and jelly!" Katie yelled, smiling.

"I want one!" Randy pretended to pout, and Kira laughed, getting out a new loaf of bread.

"Do you want it with Mickey Mouse ears, like theirs?"

"...can you do Jessica Rabbit instead?" Randy winked at her.

"Long bathroom trip." Dennis said, coming in from the garage.

"Sorry man, I got a bit sidetracked with your daughters." Randy laughed.

Dennis smiled, he loved it when they were called his daughters. Their real father had been such a bad man, Julie had told him. He was never around, never acted like he cared about the girls. Dennis was happy that he could provide some sense of a father figure for Kristi and Katie, who already called him Daddy. It was too late for Kira, though, and he was sorry for that.

"Do you want a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Dennis?" Kira asked, handing Randy his sandwich.

"That's okay, Kira. I just came in to use the bathroom." Dennis excused himself. "By the way, Randy, would you mind finishing up the Fitzgerald's wedding photos for me, they'll be by in a half hour to pick them up?"

"No problem." He smiled as Dennis left the room. "Girls, as much as I adore the attention, you're going to have to let go now."

There was a chorus of 'aww' as the younger girls reluctantly untangled themselves from him.

"Thanks for the sandwich, Kira." He gave her a nod, and left for the garage.

"C'mon, Kira, I want to go see Toby!"


	2. Chapter 2

Kira tossed and turned that night, she couldn't sleep. The room felt like it was radioactive, and she felt like she was melting. She wanted Randy's cool hands around her, wanted his frozen lips on hers. Despite that it was August, that boy could never stay warm. But he was at home too, in his apartment in town.

Conveniently, he lived right by the Denny's where Kira worked sometimes. She would have gone to see him tonight, would have lied to her parents and said she had to work late, and then gone to his apartment to hang out until she had to return home.

Kira could hear her mom and Dennis in the bedroom next to hers, speaking in hushed tones with laughter, and she knew what they were up to. No matter who Mom married, she really liked her dope. Even when she was with Ben, she'd still smoke it as long as he wasn't around (which was pretty often). And then she found Dennis, who wasn't one to judge.

Although she didn't call him dad like the other girls, he was the closest thing to a real father she had. Ever since Mom and him started dating two years ago, Kira had been really open with him. He was a cool guy, he treated her like an adult and accepted everyone for who they were. When she got too drunk to get home at a party her junior year, it was Dennis she called to come pick her up. He had taken her to weddings as his photography assistant sometimes when Randy got sick, and even done a few father-daughter dances with her.

They were probably going to have sex, which is something they often did when they got high. The couple had yet to realize that this home had paper thin walls, and the eighteen year old girl living in the small bedroom next to theirs wasn't oblivious.

Kira rolled over with a groan, wishing once again that Randy was here to entertain her, when the whole house started to shake.

"Katie, Kristi!" She hopped out of bed, feeling dust from the quivering house fall on top of her as she yanked open her door, running for the loft. Her mom and Dennis weren't far behind her.

"Mommy!" Katie was the first down the stairs, Kristi behind her.

"Girls, go upstairs and get under the beds!" Dennis shouted. Kristi and Katie turned on their heels, running back up the stairs. The three girls climbed under Kristi's bed while Dennis and Julie got under Katie's.

The earthquake was gone as soon as it started.

"Is everyone alright?" Kira asked, pulling the two girls out from underneath the bed.

"It was Toby. He was angry 'cause I didn't play with him today, I played with Kira." Kristi said quietly, staring at the cupboard in the corner of the girls' bedroom.

"Toby?" Dennis said questioningly.

"That's her imaginary friend." Kira said. She crouched down next to Kristi, taking her gently by the shoulders. "You had nothing to do with this, okay? Neither did Toby. This was an earthquake, the kind they talk about in school, remember? Where the earth shakes? You didn't cause this."

Kristi nodded, but everyone knew she still felt as if she had done it.

"Look, let's all just go back to bed, it'll be clearer in the morning." Dennis said with a sigh.

"Kira," Katie went up to her sister. "Can you sleep up here tonight? Just in case."

"Sure I-"

"Toby won't like it." Kristi said simply, tucking herself into bed.

"Why won't Toby like it?" Kira asked, sitting down beside her baby sister.

"He doesn't like you. He says you have potential, but he doesn't like you yet. He doesn't think you're trustworthy."

"Kristi, shut up and go to bed!" Katie yelled. "It's okay, Kira, you can sleep in my bed."

Kira nodded, giving Kristi one last long look, before tucking herself in with Katie.

Kristi fell asleep staring at the cupboard in the corner of the bedroom, her hand outstretched towards it.


	3. Chapter 3

"Randy," Kira said, looking up from her book. "Not to be rude, but why the hell are you putting a camera in my bedroom?"

Randy laughed at her.

"Dennis asked me to. There's been some weird stuff going on here apparently." He laughed, waving his arms in the air to poke fun of Dennis.

"Hey, did you feel that earthquake last night?" Kira asked, him, putting her book down and moving closer to him.

"Dennis mentioned the same thing, I must have slept right through it." He sighed. "I mean, the house looks okay, nothing looks broken."

"It's just weird, is all. Nothing about it on the TV, you didn't feel it...it's like it only happened to us, to our house." Kira shuddered, and Randy moved to put an arm around her.

"Hey, it's not a big deal. Maybe it did only happen to your house, like some weird shift of the plates or something? Hell, I don't know. But don't worry about it."

"Ever since Kristi got that stupid imaginary friend Toby, everything around here's just been...weird."

"Did you ever think she's the one doing it? And Toby is just her excuse for causing trouble?"

"Not with everything that's been going on around here...I'm serious, Randy, it's stuff that she can't do. I'll be watching both of them, and..."

"And what?"

"You can't tell anyone about this, any of it, okay? Nobody knows, they'd all think I was crazy if they did." He squeezed her.

"This wouldn't be the first secret I've kept for you, Kira." He kissed her cheek. "Now tell me what happened."

"After you had gone into the garage yesterday, Katie told Kristi she wanted to play in the living room, not in the cupboard. I don't know what her obsession is with that cupboard, but they're always in it. Kristi said 'it won't work down here, it has to be in the cupboard.' I asked what she meant, and Kristi got really quiet. Katie turned to me, and said that the dolls were moving, like by themselves. That Kristi was doing something to make them move. Of course I didn't believe them-they're just kids, and I let it go. I told them to play down here, because I had to do the dishes anyway, and...I swear I was holding the plate in my hand, I had a tight grip on it too. I turned away to watch the girls for one second, still drying the plate, and the next I was drying air. You're going to think I'm crazy, but the plate was hovering above my hands. I gasped, and the girls looked over at me. The next thing I knew, there were plates, cups, forks, knives, being hurled at the two of them." I held up a hand which had four little scabs on it. "At me, too."

Randy took the hand with the fork holes on it, wrapping his own calloused hand around it and pulling it into his lap.

"Kristi stood up, even when I told her to get down. She yelled 'stop!' and it stopped. I blinked, and everything was back in the sink, right where I had left it. The only thing left to prove it even happened were the marks on Katie and I, Kristi was untouched. Jesus, Randy, you must think I'm crazy."

"I don't." He smiled at her. "Look, Kira, I believe in ghosts and everything, okay? Maybe some ghost, some presence or whatever has latched itself on to Kristi, and it's doing whatever she says. She was angry at you, maybe she made that stuff happen and when she realized what was going on, how it was actually hurting you all, not just scaring you, she made it stop."

"That's not all, there's something about the cupboard, Randy, the little one in their bedroom. It used to be a storage closet, but the girls took out all the toys and junk in there, and moved it somewhere else. Kristi says that's where Toby lives."

"Well then, let's go check it out." Randy smiled at her bravely, taking her hand and pulling her off the bed.

"I don't think it's a good idea."

"Hey, don't be so scared Kira, I'm right here." He squeezed her hand, leading her up the steps. "Besides, I have to set up the cameras in their room anyways."

Up in the loft, everything looked normal. There was no tombstone or Ouija board hanging about, no sign that Kristi was possibly connected to the world of the dead.

Katie was in the living room, watching TV, and Kristi was seated directly in front of the cupboard.

"What are you doing?" She walked right up to Randy. Kristi's voice was childish, but cold. There was no sign of the happy reunion that had occurred only days before.

"Your dad asked me to set up cameras all over the house. Can I put one right here?"

"Toby won't like it."

Kira bit her lip, giving Randy a look. She didn't want him to get hurt, didn't want him to think her little sister was some sort of a monster.

"Why wouldn't he like it?" Randy asked.

"He doesn't want people to see him. If he wanted people to see him, you would see him right now."

"Where is he, Kristi?" Kira asked, her eyes wide.

"He's in his bedroom, in the cupboard."

"Can we go see him?" Randy said, his voice laced with innocence.

"You can't. Kira can."


	4. Chapter 4

Kira took a deep breath and shut her eyes tightly, hoping that she would wake up and all this would be a dream. She wasn't really in the cupboard of the loft, she was safe and warm in her own bed, or maybe in Randy's bed, with his arms around her.

"I don't see anything, can I come out now?" She lied. Kira had yet to open her eyes.

"Toby says he's in there, but you have to open your eyes to see him, stupid."

"Stop it, Kristi, and let her out already!" She heard Randy yell as she took another breath, thinking maybe this one would be her last, and opened her eyes.

She was alone in the room. The door opened at the same time, and Randy scurried in after her, practically shoving Kristi out of the way.

"Are you okay?" He asked, pulling her into a hug.

"I'm fine." She looked at her little sister, sitting in the doorway and staring at something. "It's okay, Kristi, there's no one else in here. Come here and talk to me."

Kristi shook her head, her gaze never leaving the wall to the right of them.

"Oh, oh my god."

On the wall to Kira's right was the image of a triangle with a circle inside it, looking like it had been painted on fresh.

"Girls, did you do this?" Kira asked as Katie appeared behind Kristi. Both girls shook their heads no.

"it was Toby." Kristi said innocently, walking away.

"Kristi, I want you to listen to me." Randy emerged from the cabinet quickly, grabbing Kristi's arm before she could leave. Katie helped Kira out, and Kira slammed the door shut behind them, wanting never to see that image again. "You need to tell Toby to stop, okay? He's scaring your sisters. You know Kira works so hard for you two already, giving her another mess to clean up isn't going to help."

Kristi's face fell, and she stared at the ground.

"I'm sorry. Don't tell Momma?"

Kira nodded, pulling her baby sister into a hug.

"You just have to tell him to stop, okay? He'll listen to you, I know he will." She whispered into Kristi's ear.

"No, he won't. But I can try."

Kristi moved in front of the cabinet door, staying about a foot away from it, and called to Toby. The door swung open in seconds, making Kira resist the urge to go grab her youngest sister.

"Toby, you have to go away." The house started to shake and quiver, like it had during the earthquake. "Stop it, Toby! Leave us alone!"

The movement of the house stopped, and the cabinet door slammed shut again.

"Did it work?" Kira asked Randy, his arm still firmly around her. He shrugged.

"No," Kristi said, looking defeated. "We only made him angrier."


	5. Chapter 5

Randy had gone back into the office with Dennis, and Kira sent the girls to play in the living room.

"Can Toby come?" Kristi asked. Already, her anger and fear of him had vanished-the two were best friends again.

"No baby," She said. "Tell him to stay up here."

"You won't be safe-"

"Tell him to stay." Kira's voice hardened, she was determined not to show her fear this time around.

While the girls played Barbies and the adults were off doing something else (she could vaguely hear laughter as it echoed throughout the house) Kira lugged the gallon of bleach up the loft stairs. Thankfully, the walls in the cabinet were pure white.

Crawling into the space once again, she started to scrub away at the black markings. She could have painted over them, but that wouldn't have been nearly as fulfilling. Little kids drew on walls all the time, she told herself, Kristi was just going through a phase.

There was no such things as ghosts, as dead people walking the earth. And Kristi most certainly did not see them hiding in the crawl space of her bedroom. She had done the markings herself-hell, she'd practically admitted to it back there.

The markings came off easily, without much fight. They looked to have been painted on with children's paint, nothing heavy duty. Besides, a little bleach fixed up just about anything.

This was her home, these were her little sisters and her family. They had all been through so much...they deserved something normal, that's all. The girls deserved a childhood with both a mother and a father, no ghosts wandering the halls and writing on walls. They deserved peanut butter sandwiches every day for lunch and frozen yogurt for dessert. They deserved children's movies on TV and regular bedtimes.

Sure, the girls weren't Kira's daughters, but they were her little sisters, and she would try her damnedest to make sure they had the childhood she had never gotten-and that meant no ghosts.

"You have to leave them alone, do you understand?" Kira whispered forcefully as she scrubbed until her fingers were red and numb.

There was no reply.

When she finished, the walls looked good as new.

"Kira!" The girls called to her from the living room. "We're bored."

"I've got an idea," Kira said, walking down the loft steps and washing her hands. "What do you say we go for a little camping trip tonight?"


	6. Chapter 6

It sounded like a great idea, at first. The three girls, cuddled up outside roasting marshmallows and telling campfire stories while Dennis and Julie watched from their bedroom window, waiting for them to go to sleep so they could have a wild night of sex...

But Dennis knew his dreams weren't going to come true.

"What about snakes?" Katie said as she settled down in the tent that night.

"and spiders..." Kristi shuddered.

_'What about Toby?'_ Kira thought, but she didn't say anything.

"Look, you guys are in a tent, nothing can get you." Dennis said, patting the cloth walls.

"Except for bears." Katie said, aimed at Kristi. The two girls ran inside quickly, shoving their parents out of the way.

"This sounded like a better idea in my-SPIDER!" Kira said, spotting a black widow spider making a nest in a corner of the tent. Just as fast as the girls, she abandoned the idea of camping and ran into the kitchen.

"Looks like we're not getting lucky tonight." Julie sighed, prepared to give up on the idea.

"Don't give up on me yet, beautiful." He reassured her, walking back into the house to place a call. "Hey Randy, you like to camp right?"


	7. Chapter 7

"Randy," Kira giggled, looking across the tent at him. "You hate camping."

"But I love you," He smiled at her. The four of them were packed into the tent for the night, Kira on one side and Randy on the other, with the girls between them. "I can't believe Dennis let us do this."

"Hey, he just wanted to get some I think. He and Mom couldn't get off each other ever since I brought up the idea of taking the girls camping."

"Oh gosh," Randy laughed. "That was an image I did not need to see."

There was a loud banging inside the house.

"Oh my god!" Kira complained as her cheeks turned pink.

"Wait, Kira look." Randy pointed at an upstairs window. A light had come on in Kristi and Katie's bathroom. "Do you think..."

"No way in hell would they ever...it's impossible. Besides, I can't see figures, they're not up there."

"Then who is?" Randy asked.

A face appeared at the window, one too dark to make out, and then the bathroom light flickered off.

"I told you, he's not done with us." Kristi said, sitting up in bed.

"Oh, Kristi." Kira said, as she was the closest one to her. She wrapped her little sister in a hug and pulled her close to her. "C'mon, just go back to bed. It's okay, we're safe."


	8. Chapter 8

Kira fought back a scream as someone opened the tent door, resisting the urge to jump over the girls and into Randy's arms.

"Girls? Randy?" Dennis called out.

"Yeah?" Kira said, fighting to keep her heart rate down. She looked over at Kristi, sleeping beside her, but she was fast asleep again-as if she hadn't spoken at all. "The girls are asleep."

"Did you...did you come inside the house?" Dennis asked with a grimace. He didn't want to frighten Kira, not when she was alone at the house so often with the girls.

"No," Randy asked, trying to keep his voice strong and unwavering. There was something in that house, they had all seen it then, all heard it banging around up in the girls' room.

"Did the girls?" Dennis asked again. His house was not haunting, he kept telling himself, his girls were not in any danger at all.

"They've been out for hours." Kira admitted.

There was a scream from inside the house, and the three adults raced out of the tent.

"Kira, stay with the girls!" Randy called, chasing after his boss. Kira resisted the urge to follow the boys, to not be left alone in this darkness, but she knew it'd be better if she stayed here.

"Kira?" Katie shook herself awake. "What happened? Why'd you scream?"

"I didn't-never mind, baby, go back to sleep." Katie nodded, laying back down again.

It was well after midnight, and Kira desperately wanted to fall asleep with them, to believe that they were safe here. Reluctantly, she laid down her head on the pillow, tucking herself and the girls in.

There was a scratching noise on the side of the tent, and Kira swore the wind was calling her name.

No, it wasn't calling her name-it was calling Kristi's. It wanted Kristi.

Pulling her little sister closer to her, she let out a gentle whisper: "You can't have her." The wind died down, and didn't respond.

"Kira," Randy called to her, pulling her out of the dream she had let herself succumb to her. "Baby, wake up. We have to bring everything inside."

"Is Mom-"

"Julie's fine, she heard something in the bathroom that startled her, that's all. Come on, get Kristi and I'll get Katie." Randy said, smiling at her. He was afraid too, it was obvious in the way his smile shook, wanting desperately to turn into a frown.

Kira picked up Kristi, wrapping her up in her sleeping bag and exiting the tent, Randy behind her.

The wind started to pick up again, and the light in the girls' bathroom flicked on, then off.

She looked at Randy, and he looked back at her-Toby was waiting for them, he was waiting for all of them.

"Why are we going inside?" Katie asked, her eyes still closed and her head still resting on Randy's shoulder.

"It's going to rain," Kira offered, still staring at the window.

"Oh," Katie said, going back to sleep.

Kira would rather stay outside and face the next big natural disaster, than go back inside that house. But they had no choice-this was their home, and they were going to fight for it. Besides, as Toby had proven earlier that night, it wasn't the house he wanted, it was Kristi.

The couple took the girls to their beds and turned out the light. In the darkness, Kira swore she heard the cupboard door creak open, but when she looked it was shut.

She and Randy took a seat on the steps of the loft, closer to the bottom so they wouldn't wake the girls. Dennis and Julie's door was shut, but they could hear them talking quietly-Julie scared, and Dennis calming.

Kira hid her head in her hands, leaning on Randy.

"He wants Kristi." She said. "He wants her and I don't know how to make him stop."

"Oh, Kira." Randy turned to hug her, the lanky man placed his head atop hers. "I'm right here, okay? And I'm not going anywhere. I love those girls too-you all are like my family, you know that? I'm staying here, I'm staying with you. I won't let him take her, not anymore than I'll let him take Katie or you, okay?"

Kira nodded, kissing him gently.

"I'm so scared for them. I can't be around all the time, and neither can Dennis. Mom...well she's mom, you know how she is. She doesn't believe in any of this, she thinks we're all crazy, driven insane by a few creaky floorboards and some wind in the trees." Kira sighed. "I don't know, maybe she's right, maybe we're all going a little crazy."

"Hey," Randy said. "She's still a mother-she's your mother, and Katie and Kristi's mother. She'll protect you from anything, whether she believes in it herself or not."

"I know, but Randy-"

There was a noise from behind them, and they turned to look as a multicolored bouncy ball rolled down the steps towards them.

Kira bolted for the girls, checking to see if they were alright.

Both were asleep in their beds, the fish tank bubbling behind them.

Randy gave Kira a look, a little half-hearted smile, and then pulled her into a hug. With a quiet giggle, he laid down on the floor and pulled Kira on top of him.

"Comfy?" He asked, wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Mmhm. Thank you, Randy." She smiled, laying her head down on his chest.

His heartbeat lulled her to sleep, but over top of that she could still hear the faint calls of Kristi that seemed to be carried on the wind, echoing throughout the room.


	9. Chapter 9

"What are you guys _doing?" _Katie asked, her face squishing up as she looked at the couple lying on the floor by her bed.

"Why, do you want a turn?" Randy asked, laughing. Kira woke up at the sound of his chest vibrating, and groaned as she rolled off of him.

"I'm hungry." Kristi interrupted, rubbing her eyes.

"What do you want for break-"

"PANCAKES!" The two girls yelled. Randy laughed at them while Kira scoffed, getting up off the floor.

"Let me go get changed, and I'll see what I can do." She smiled at them. "You guys get dressed too, okay?"

The girls nodded, heading towards their closet, while Randy followed Kira down the steps.

"I guess Julie and Dennis are still asleep." Randy said, nodding towards their closed door.

"They had a pretty full night last night." Kira admitted, walking towards her own room. Randy shut the door behind them. "I'm sorry I made you stay with me last night. Things just got so weird."

"Hey, you didn't make me do anything, I wanted to stay with you." He smiled at her, laying down on her bed. "Although I do have to say, your bed is a lot comfier than the girls' floor."

Kira smiled at him, wondering how she had found such a nice guy.

"Seriously, thank you though." She kissed him, pulling on a clean shirt. "Now c'mon, I'm sure you want pancakes too."

"Woah, you just like, read my mind." Randy said sarcastically, making Kira giggle.

"C'mon, you dork."

The girls were already sitting in the living room watching Looney Tunes with glasses of orange juice in their hands.

"Hey, you spill that on the couch and you're in big trouble." Kira threatened, searching for the pancake mix while Randy poured himself a glass of juice as well.

"We won't," The girls chorused.

"That goes for you too, Randy." She smiled at him. He looked over quickly to see if the girls were watching, then gave her a quick peck on the cheek. He went over and sat between Katie and Kristi, discussing the cartoon as if it was the next big political debate.

Kira turned up the radio quietly, dancing around and humming to Time After Time by Cyndi Lauper while she cooked the pancakes.

"Two done!" She called. "First come first serve."

Randy pretended to get up, really letting Katie get the first batch of pancakes.

"Aw, I wanted chocolate chip." She pouted.

"Sorry baby, we didn't have any." Kira sighed.

"If I tell you in advance, can I get blueberries in mine?" Randy said, giving her a winning smile.

Kira pretended to scowl, but really she didn't mind. Opening the fridge, a couple of apples spilled out. Kira fought back a gasp-all the fruit was rotten.

"Uhm, uh..." She raced to get a trash bag, not wanting the girls to see this. "No blueberries either, sorry."

"But we had some last-" Kristi complained.

"We ate them all." Kira blurted, shoving all the rotten fruit into the trash bag before the girls could see it. "Randy, will you run this to the curb for me?"

"Sure," He said, giving her a questioning look.

_'Later,' _she mouthed to him, and he nodded.

"Second batch done!" She called, and Kristi raced over to get it.

Randy opened the front door, garbage bag in hand, to find a woman standing on the other side hand up as if to knock.

"Kira, you, uh, have company. Sorry miss." Randy said, allowing her to come in while he took the new bag of trash to the curb, hoping to beat the trash truck.

"Hm?" Kira said. The radio was turned up loud now, as Kira belted out the chorus.

"Grandma!" The girls called, running over to hug the woman.

She put a finger to her mouth, signaling towards Kira, and started to walk over towards the kitchen.

"_If you fall I will catch you-I'll be waiting." _The woman sung out beautifully, and Kira turned with an excited look in her eye.

"Grandma!" She hugged her.

Kira and her grandmother had always had a close relationship-she was her rock when Julie couldn't be. They understood each other perfectly, and could practically read each other's minds sometimes.

"Hello darling!" Lois looked around the room with a scowl. "Your mother's been slacking again, I see. These pancakes, however, look delicious, may I?"

"Those are for Randy, but I'll cook you up a batch right now." Lois smiled at his name.

"Hey!" Julie yelled, coming into the room in one of Dennis' shirts, rubbing the back of her head tiredly. "What's all this yelling about? We all had a pretty rough time last night, can I please sleep til at least ten?"

"Well, that's no way to greet your children." Lois said. She always had a problem with Julie. Sure, it was her only daughter and everything, but Julie's choices tended to be selfish, tended to lead to her putting herself in front of the girls-and that was something Lois couldn't stand.

"Mom, I should have known."


	10. Chapter 10

Randy and Kira cuddled up with the girls on the couch, turning up the TV to cover the sounds of Lois and Julie fighting in the next room. Dennis was miraculously sleeping through it all.

"So, uhm, who wants ice cream?" Randy asked, making Kira hit him gently on the shoulder.

"It's eleven in the morning!" She complained. "How about candy?"

"How about both?" Katie countered, putting on her biggest puppy dog face.

Kira and Randy looked at each other as the screaming continued to get louder, the words becoming vicious.

"Both it is," Kira nodded, ushering the girls out of the house quickly. "Go get in Randy's car."

Randy was the last one out of the house, and he shut the door behind him, as they sped off towards the ice cream shop.

"What flavor are you going to get?" Katie asked excitedly.

"Chocolate." Kristi smiled.

"Me too." Katie said.

"I'm getting strawberry." Kira smiled at the girls in the backseat.

"Jeez you all are boring. I'm getting chocolate chip cookie dough!" Randy snorted, making them all laugh as they turned into the parking lot. Quickly enough, the girls had forgotten about their mother and grandmother screaming in the bedroom, about Kristi's malicious imaginary friend. But Randy had always been good at things like that, making people forget bad things, and things they didn't really want to talk about. His mother said it was a gift, but he'd always thought it just meant he was good at avoiding things.

They all sat down outside, enjoying the summer breeze. School would start back up soon enough, and Kira would miss all the time she spent with the girls. However, it would mean more alone time for her and Randy.

She took a big lick of her ice cream cone, swooping her tongue around the edges to catch it before it fell off, and immediately felt like she was turning green.

"How is it, girls?" Randy asked, smiling at the three of them.

"It's great!"

"Terrific!"

"Pretty good." Kira said, attempting to fake a smile. What was wrong with her, she never got sick? And strawberry ice cream was always her favorite. "I'll be right back, I'm going to run to the bathroom."

She handed her cone to Katie, who took advantage right away, taking a big bite. She looked up at Kira, as if waiting for her to say something or reprimand her, but Kira only smiled at her and mouthed 'keep it.'

The bathroom was green. Sure, the whole parlor was pink and green, but the bathrooms were entirely green, right down to the toilets-and it wasn't making her feel any better. She was the only one in there, and she made her way to the sink to splash some water on her face.

She felt the vomit coming up her throat, and she raced for the baby-poop green toilet, emptying the contents of her stomach into it.

When Kira was done, she leaned back against the wall, feeling her body slowly return to normal. This was so strange for her, she never got sick. Even as a little kid, she had only gotten the stomach flu once, and whenever she was sick in the slightest it was never to her stomach.

"Maybe I ate too fast." She said aloud, trying to come up with excuses. The bathroom door opened again, and an elderly lady walked in.

Kira flushed the toilet, washed her hands, and walked out with a smile on her face.

Everyone had enough to worry about already, they didn't need a mysteriously sick teenage girl on their hands. Besides, she was feeling better already.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N-In a response to Hateme101, yes the Grandmother is still evil and still a witch, but if you remember in the movie no one in the family knew that until the very end. Julie got pregnant very young, and because of that Kira spent a lot of time with her grandmother as a little girl, and they have a very close bond. Julie isn't fond of her mother, however, because even when she's pulled her life together (she's with Dennis, she's doing fine on money, she's living on her own) Lois insists that she isn't raising the children right, and that Dennis isn't a good guy. Hope that cleared things up! I really hope everyone's enjoying this story, as the reviews have been really good so far and super nice to read. Thank you all for reading! xx. **

* * *

Lois' car was gone by the time they got home, so Kira figured it was safe to go inside.

"Girls!" She called after Katie and Kristi. "Say thank you to Randy."

"Thank you Randy!" They chorused, hurrying inside in hopes of catching the last couple episodes of Scooby Doo.

"Those girls are addicted to the TV," Kira laughed. "But seriously, thank you so much."

"All I did was buy you ice cream." He laughed, blushing slightly as he leaned against his car.

"Well, thank you for that, too. But I was talking about spending the night with me last night, for sticking around and not calling me crazy. Thanks for that, Randy." She smiled at him, blushing a little bit herself.

"You don't have to thank me, Kira, I would do it forever to have you this happy with me." He smiled, kissing her gently.

"Someone's going to see." She sighed. "Look, I have to work tonight, so maybe afterwards..?"

He grinned at her, nodding profusely.

"I'm going to head home, if that's okay with you. I want to get cleaned up a little bit before I head back over here for work." He said, getting in the car.

"Okay," She smiled, biting her lip a little bit like she always did when she was nervous.

"Kira," Randy sighed, looking up at her. The sun made him squint, but the way it fell over her made him not want to stop looking, no matter how much it hurt. "Will you be alright here by yourself?"

"It's only for a couple hours, Randy. And, technically I'm not alone, Mom and Dennis are here."

"You know what I mean." He bit his lip, thinking about her alone with the girls in that house. Julie had probably already fallen back asleep, and Dennis would be camped out in the garage already.

"Hey, you've seen the horror movies. Nothing scary ever happens in the daytime, remember? I'll be fine. Now go take a shower, you stink." She laughed at him, and he smiled at her.

She was faking it, it was so obvious to see the fear huddling right under the skin, but he had to let her leave. He had to leave now, or he never would. Besides, he would be back in an hour, tops.

With a sigh, he drove out of the driveway.

* * *

"Kira, I need to see you in the garage!" Dennis called.

Kira had just finished setting up Scooby Doo on the TV for the girls, and they were contently sitting in front of it, playing with Barbie dolls.

"What's up?" She asked, taking the seat Randy usually sat in.

"Here, watch this." He looked serious, hitting the play button. Kira saw the girls' room light up the screen, the light from the fish tank illuminating the place.

She watched as Randy and her ran up the stairs, and she looked between the two girls. The camera caught them talking, then a kiss as he hugged her. Finally, it showed Randy pulling Kira down on top of himself to sleep before Dennis paused the video.

"Forgot about the cameras, huh?" He said, his voice stern. Finally, he could take it no more, and he started to laugh. "Oh my god! You should see your face!"

"What?" Kira said. "look, I can explain-"

"Kira, baby, I'm not mad. On the contrary, I've been hoping this would happen for quite some time. Randy's a great guy, and you're a terrific girl. I know him, and he'll take care of you. Besides, you make a cute couple."

"Thank you, Dennis." She smiled, hugging the man who had become so much like a father over the past couple years.

"Of course, just...don't tell your mom about this just yet, okay? She's had a bad experience with men, especially when she was your age. And Randy's quite a few years older-"

"I know what you mean, don't worry. And I'm, uh, sorry you had to see that." She giggled.

"Don't be, it was cute. Like a Hallmark movie right here on my little monitor."


	12. Chapter 12

Kira was reading a book on the couch when Katie walked over to her.

"Kira?"

"Yes baby?" She said, looking up from the novel.

"Something's wrong with Kristi. She's throwing up everywhere."

"Is she running a fever?" Kira asked nervously, hurrying to go check on her little sister. She hoped it wasn't the same thing that had happened to her earlier that day, and she had somehow passed it on to Kristi. "Never mind, I'll go check."

Kira ran up the stairs, and Kristi was already tucked into the bed.

"What's wrong baby girl?" She said, sitting down beside her sister, putting her hand to the girl's forehead.

"I just don't feel good."

"Does your tummy hurt?"

"Yeah, my head too."

"Okay, I'll be right back. I just have to get the-"

"Kira!" Kristi said. "No, don't leave me alone with him."

"...Alone with who, Kristi?"

"You know who." Kristi swallowed. "I didn't want to play with him anymore, and he made me sick."

It made Kira nauseous to think about it. She didn't want to believe that this creature, whatever he was, had so much power of Kristi that he could literally make her ill.

"C'mon," Kira picked her little sister up, carrying her down the steps and pretending not to hear the furniture in the room fly up in the air, smashing around behind her.

She put Kristi down on the couch, and called for Dennis.

"What?" Dennis said, running into the room.

"It's Kristi, she's sick." Kira explained, taking the thermometer out of Kristi's mouth. "Her temperature's one-oh-two."

"We have to get her to the ho-" Dennis swallowed, looking at the little girl. "Doctor's, I mean doctor's." he winked at Kira.

"You go, take her and pick up Mom on the way. I'll stay here with Katie."

"Why don't you come along, I don't really want you two here by yourselves after everything that's been going on."

"Hosp-Doctor's offices, I mean, are full of diseases. Katie's still young, it's easy for her to get sick. Besides, I don't really want to risk it with me either lately. You go, Dennis."

"Kira, I..." He pulled her aside. "What if Kristi doesn't want me? Hell, what if she doesn't want your mother? You've grown so close to both of them..."

"It'll be fine Dennis, don't worry. You're a great dad, honestly." she hugged him.

"Thank you, baby, that means a lot. But I'm still worried about you two here alone."

"I think Randy's going to be here in a little bit anyways, we won't be alone for long." There was a banging upstairs, and both adults winced. Katie looked scared, and Kristi let out a small whimper. "Take her and go, now, while he still lets her out."

The doors swung open and shut by themselves as Dennis carried Kristi towards the car. The lights flickered on and off, and the blender started, the TV changed channels by itself.

By the time Randy pulled into the driveway, Kira and Katie were curled up on the couch, scared out of their wits.

"I'm not afraid of you!" Katie shouted, but it only got worse.

"Shh," Kira quieted her. "It'll stop soon."

And it did, just as Randy walked in the door.


	13. Chapter 13

"Randy!" Katie said, running up to hug the man tightly.

"Woah," he hugged her back, looking at Kira. "What happened?"

"Toby was mad," Katie said innocently. "Because Kristi left the house without him."

"it stopped when you came in." Kira looked around, and what was previously a mess of their precious items was all put back in order, TV no longer smashed, and doors looking as if they never slammed it all. But Katie saw it too, or else Kira would think she had lost her mind.

"Toby likes you, that's why it stopped." Katie smiled, hugging him tighter while Kira gave Randy a questioning look. "He likes you and Kira together, and he wants to keep you around."

"How do you know all this, Katie?" Kira said, looking at her sister.

"Toby told me so."

He had both little girls in his grasp now, the two of them caught up in some world that he had promised them.

"Katie, baby, I need you to block out Toby for now, okay?" Kira said, kneeling down to her sister's level. "The things he tells you, they aren't true."

"How do you know that?" Katie shouted angrily, backing up towards Randy. "He told me that you would take Kristi and me away from this house, and you and Randy would keep us safe. He said we'd stay together! Why can't I listen to him if he tells me good stuff, huh? Why wouldn't you keep me safe, Kira?"

Kira sighed, hugging her sister.

"I love you, and I will keep you safe. You know that, you don't need Toby to reassure you of it, alright? He's not a nice...whatever he is, okay? And I know he may seem like it, but he's not."

There was a banging from upstairs, like doors slamming again.

"What was that?" Randy asked, thinking logically. When he realized there would be no explanation, he moved to put his arms around Kira and Katie.

The banging stopped almost immedietly, and Katie poked her head up.

Kira couldn't understand it, it was like Toby wanted them to be together, wanted Randy to be around to protect her and Katie. For the first time, Kira wondered if Toby wasn't the bad guy, if maybe he was warning them of an event to come, a time when they would need all four of them to survive.

Half an hour later, they were still sitting in a similar position-Randy and Kira side by side, Randy holding Kira close with one arm, as the other secured Katie between the two, half on his lap and half on Kira's. They stared at nothing, not talking, only trying to take in what had just occurred.

"I'm bored," Katie said finally.

"Do you want to play a game?" Kira asked, wondering if she could somehow avoid going up to the loft to collect Chutes and Ladders or Monopoly or something like that. She didn't want to be up there, even if Toby was somehow the good guy.

"Yes... I know, can we play Bloody Mary?"

Kira's eyes went as big as saucers-was this the event Toby was warning them about?


	14. Chapter 14

Randy and the girls reluctantly climbed the stairs towards the loft, stopping for Randy to grab Dennis' camera.

"For the record, this was not my idea." He laughed, confessing for Dennis.

The three of them moved into the bathroom, shutting the door behind them.

"You don't have to do this, it's okay to be scared." Kira said, crouching down to Katie's level.

"I'm not scared." she said, even though she climbed up into Kira's arms as soon as the lights went off.

"Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary." The three of them chanted, staring at the mirror in the darkness. Thirty seconds later, although much too long for Kira, Randy turned on the lights.

"No!" Katie whined. "You didn't wait long enough, that's why it didn't work."

With a sigh, Randy turned off the lights again.

"Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary." They waited longer this time, staring at the glow of the camera's night vision light in the mirror.

Suddenly, Kira let out a yelp that made her put Katie down, her back searing with a red-hot kind of pain.

Randy hit the light switch and Kira lifted up her shirt, staring at the three deep claw marks in her back. They were new, still red and irritated.

"I didn't do that!" Katie said, her eyes filling up with tears.

"I know you didn't, baby." Kira said.

There was a banging from outside as something hit the bathroom door, and Katie wrapped her arms around Kira's waist.

Randy opened the door to see objects flying around the room, things being thrown towards them. He pushed the girls back behind him and shut the bathroom door.

Katie started to sob.

"Shh, it's okay, it's okay." Randy told her, not really knowing what else to say. Kira just stared at him with wide eyes, comforting her little sister.

It stopped, and Randy opened the door once again. They were just in time to see the cupboard door slam shut with a bang.

Kira shoved her way past the two of them like a force of nature, storming across the room and hurling open the cupboard door.

"Kira, don't!" Randy cried, wanting to run after her when all he did was stay in the bathroom with Katie, trying to keep her from chasing after her sister.

The shadows seemed darker in this cupboard, and it smelled like something was rotting in there. On the wall, to the right of her, was the exact same triangle markings she scrubbed off a few days ago, only this time darker and drawn on not with marker but with some redder substance.

In the middle of it, overlapping the circle, was the name 'KIRA.'

She slammed the door shut, Randy and Katie running over to her.

Wordlessly, Kira picked up her sister and carried her out of the room, out of the house at best. Randy didn't follow, and Kira knew that no matter what she said she couldn't convince him to leave it alone.

She heard the cupboard door creak open, and she heard his gasp, so quiet she might have imagined it. Seconds later, he was running down the stairs after them, ushering the girls out towards his car.

"C'mon, we're going to my place for a little bit."

The house protested as they drove down the street, and the wind around the car no longer begged for Kristi, but instead for Kira.


	15. Chapter 15

It wasn't until Dennis got home that Randy allowed himself to drop the girls back off at their house. He walked them inside, his arm around Kira, who didn't quite seem steady on her feet.

How could she be, there was a monster after her? And Randy could do nothing to stop it, he couldn't save her anymore than he could save Katie or Kristi. But that didn't mean he wouldn't try.

"Dennis," He said, poking his head into his boss' office. "I need to talk to you for a minute."

"If this is about you and Kira, I know."

"We're not together." He said, biting his lip and hoping Dennis was trying to trick him.

"You guys didn't turn off the video camera during your little 'sleepover' a couple nights ago." Dennis' eyes narrowed, but then he laughed. "Don't worry, don't worry! I'm not mad, I'm actually happy that she found such a good guy as you, Randy. So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

Randy took a deep breath, explaining all the things that had happened to Kira and the girls when he was away, and Dennis listened with an open mind.

"What I'm asking-what I'm begging for," He said, once he got to earlier today, when he discovered Kira's name written on the wall in that cabinet. "Is that you and Julie let Kira come stay with me for a while. Hell, maybe the girls too. There's something in this house, and it wants Kira, and I think it's going to use the girls to get her."

Dennis took his glasses off, rubbing them on his shirt.

"Look, I'm all in support of this, okay, but Julie's the decision-maker around here, and I doubt she'll let Kira go, much less Katie and Kristi."

"What if...what if Kira wanted to go with me, what if she didn't ask? I know it might hurt the relationship between the two of them, but maybe, with Kira gone, Toby would stop."

"It's a long shot." Dennis confirmed. "But tell her to go pack her things. She has to be gone by the time Julie gets off work."


	16. Chapter 16

Randy's apartment had always felt more like home to Kira anyways, even though the getting there part was bittersweet. Julie would die when she found out, especially since she didn't believe in all the things that were happening in the house. Dennis would try to explain, but she'd never understand-this was something that would put a hole in their relationship for a long time, one bigger than the one previously there.

The girls came over during the day now, but Dennis dropped them off, not Julie. They'd complain about how angry Julie was, saying that they missed Kira, and wanted her to come home. She wanted to come home too, seeing their sad little faces, but she knew it wasn't safe. Besides, the girls didn't talk about Toby anymore, and that left Kira hoping that he had left them alone now that she was gone.

The worst part of the new arrangement was her sickness. She couldn't stop throwing up, and it was getting harder to hide it. Randy had only caught her once, and she brushed it off, calling it food poisoning. But he was always around, always watching over her, and as much as she loved it, she knew she had to go see a doctor without him knowing.

This was weird-stomach bugs didn't last for three weeks. It wasn't like Kira felt sick other than that, just a little lightheaded now and then. But she had a stomach bug before, and this was nothing like that. Even the smallest thing made her ache, she hated it.

So one day, when Randy was over at her old house working with Dennis and Julie had picked the girls up early, she called into the doctor's office.

They took her weight, tested her for strep throat, took blood and everything in between. They were about to do an X-Ray on her (for what, she didn't know) when they found the answer.

"Ma'am, did you know you were pregnant?" One of the younger nurses asked, looking over her files.

Kira felt her throat close up, and the room started to shake.

A baby, that was good news. She and Randy were young, sure, but they could handle it. And look how good he was with the girls...

So then why was she feeling like the world was ending?

It dawned on her as she walked out of the clinic, as the wind started to howl her name again. Toby didn't want her, he wanted the baby that was inside of her.


End file.
